Comments on the finals at the WC '06

[the deacon]

Can anyone briefly explain why The Netherlands lost out at this years Men's finals notwithstanding being the ongoing favourites again?

On the other hand it was very refreshing to see that France (the second oldest canoe polo playing country) had achieved the highest accolades in two of the three playing disciplines.

Of the five oldest canoepolo playing countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and The Netherlands) now only Italy has not won a WC in any category yet.

After Italy's proformance this year however, I am sure that it will not be long before they will achieve that goal too.

[Niek]

As a "dutchie" off course I do not agree with the oppinion that Italy will be able to get hold of the Worldcup in short notice....

Sure the final was a close game , however it was far from exiting and can be desribed as very boring at times (especially the second half and the whole extra time). It looked like none of both teams dared to take any risks at all.

Besides that the earlier game between the netherlands and italy in the quarter finalpoule ended in a 7-2 for the Dutch team. So its a pitty that italy played the final and the netherlands didn't. (But okay thats the way tournaments go)

For the public the game fot 3/4 was far more exiting and at least looked like a real battle. To bad this wasn't the final...

[Anton Holmes]

I disagree that the final was boring, both teams tried to win the game, both in normal time and extra time.
The French and Italian styles of play when combined may not have made the most exciting game, but it wasn't boring.

As far as the Italians winning in the World Championships in the near future, I'm not as convinced as you are.
I've played against the Italians in 3 World Championships and a World Games, and I truely think that last year in Duisburg was the strongest team that the have fielded so far. This year they achieved a higher result, but I think that the result against the Dutch shows that.

After the game against the French I spoke to a few of the Dutch players and why they lost the amount pressure that they were feeling, the expectation to perfrom well, infact the expectation that everyone had that they would win. In the end it seemed that the pressure got to them. It doesn't mean that they aren't a great team, and it only takes one loss to ruin a championship.
The French were very deserving winners, and it was a long time coming.

[The Wasp]

Ahh Mr holmes passing comment again.

Now that you have played at three championships and world games do you think you will ever have that cup in your hands or
Is the pressure too much for you to perform or are you just flogging that same old donkey that a few others seem to be!

As for the dutch i think you talk ******** so what if they were favourites i know that they have good enough players to deal with pressure.

Maybe they were just not good enough on the day and other teams were on their game.

[Anton Holmes]

Ah, The Wasp that won't show who he really is.
You really love to pass comment, but are you someone that really has the qualifications to pass comment?? Maybe no one will ever know.

I was only passing on the comments that were made to me by the Dutch players in the team that I spoke to. This was the feeling that they had, not the feeling that I had.

As for your other comments about my performance, I do believe that Aus will achieve victory again, and it is only by having experienced players that have been to Multiple championships that it can be done.
If you have a look at teams like Germany, GB, Holland, France, Italy you will see that their players have been to multiple championships before they got anywhere near winning. The French are a classic example of this. The have had performances similar to the Aus team over the last 6 years but the persistance paid off and they have finally won. Not a dead horse at all in my opinion.

How about you give us a little bit more info about yourself Wasp, and Bug??